SUVA, Fiji For more than 50 days, the three boys slurped rainwater that puddled in the bottom of their tiny boat, gobbled flying fish that leaped aboard and prayed for salvation.

Etueni Nasau and his two cousins almost gave up hope they would survive as they bobbed in their aluminum dinghy across the South Pacific for more than seven weeks, before a fishing trawler spotted them by chance and brought an end to their extraordinary ordeal.

"I thank God for keeping us alive all this while, while were drifting out in open sea," Nasau, 14, told The Associated Press. "We prayed every day that someone will find us and rescue us. We thought we would die."

In a shy, quiet voice, Nasau spoke Saturday from his hospital bed in Fiji, where the trio were brought a day earlier and quickly treated for dehydration, bad sunburn and malnourishment.

Nasau, also known as Edward, and his two 15-year-old cousins, Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, jumped into the 12-foot- (3.5-meter-) long boat, known locally as a "tinnie," sometime in late September â�� Nasau couldn't remember the date â�� to make what they thought was a short journey between islands in their archipelago home of Tokelau.

But they ran out of fuel for their outboard motor and began drifting out to sea. As land retreated from sight, they contemplated the handful of coconuts they had brought with them to snack on â�� and the little else in the boat."

what a story of hope and self reliance! three teens were almost dead but managed to survive almost three months at sea...their families must be overwhelmed..